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iariaPassage by Lois McMaster Bujold
I liked it.
+ I like Dag’s growing abilities and the slowly expanding understanding of Ground and how Lakewalkers do and can use it. I like how Dag’s continued quest to teach and create a peaceful coexistence with Farmers is playing out.
+ The building ‘found family’ aspect was great.
+ I was disappointed that it was one woman (Berry) and six men (Whit, Hod, Hawthorne, Bo, Remo, Barr) introduced. Like, the hell? One of Remo/Barr could easily have been a woman plus Hawthorne or Bo. It annoyed me greatly. I’m also slightly annoyed our singular new female character ends up with Whit.
+ I ended up liking Hod and everything with the beguilement, and him and Bo basically adopting each other.
+ Fawn felt like she took a bit of a backseat. I enjoyed her re-stealing the sheep. I also love a line of hers where she tells Dag that she isn’t a fighter and as such must rely on her wits - "The only equal weapon I’ll ever have is my wits. But without knowing things, my wits are like a bow with no arrows. Don’t leave me disarmed." I loved that and the meaning behind them is so applicable in so many canons. What a great argument against that stupid “lie to protect them” trope.
+ I very much disagreed with Dag’s take on the Farmer bandits and the possible diminishing responsibility due to beguilement. First of all, being captured and forced to fight/kill for your life is horrible and not in fact an automatic “oh, you killed so now you’re worthless/evil”. Second, if they were kept under beguilement then there is in fact some debate about how much responsibility they share. Dag has this serious black/white viewpoint and I’m not sure if the writer wants us to see him as wrong or not but I do. It makes me think of his reaction of humans being rescued from a malice and it being all about the practicalities and apparently none at all about the idea of actually saving these people and how that's important too. It’s this blind spot in him which is interesting but only if it’s going somewhere.
+ I also thought of a very easy way for them to work out who was beguiled or not without the Farmers having to rely entirely on the word of some Lakewalker. There are after all three Lakewalkers there. Have all three go through the prisoners individually and point out those beguiled thus giving three independent opinions. Not difficult.
+ When they were going down the flooding river and kept coming across animals clinging to trees on submerged islands I felt so sad and just wanted them to stop the boat and save them.
Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold
This book and I got off to the wrong start pretty much immediately but overall was a good conclusion to the series.
+ The furor over Whit and Berry maybe not being able to get married right then was ridiculous. I know – different time and place, and customs – but I was irritated with the lot of them. Just get married somewhere else! This is not that big a deal! Yeesh.
+ I was also 100% with Barr on Dag’s hypocrisy in using persuasion on the register. If it was wrong of Barr to do it to Berry it’s just as wrong for Dar to do the same to someone else. It’s not something that only becomes wrong when done to someone you care about. Plus there’s an additional angle of hypocrisy considering his stance on hanging the bandits – if he’s all for working with Farmers and treating them as equals and not putting himself/Lakewalkers above them, then what the hell would he call what he just did?
+ I loved the found family end where Fawn and Dag live with Whit and Berry, Hod and Bo and Hawthorne, and Arkady and Sumac in this giant rambling house and it all falling in place for them to get their happy endings. Fawn getting her home and Dag his new way of life, Berry her boat, Whit finding his place, Sumac taking over the care of the horses - all great.
+ The reveal of Barr's daughter Lily and it being made explicate that he did in fact rape the farmer girl left a bit of a sour feeling at the end. He says she wasn't unwilling but her reaction says she was. I was put off him when he first showed up, much like Fawn, but I took what happened as a lot more consensual then it ended up revealed as.
+ This book had more supporting female characters which was nice though again they basically all ended up in relationships. Neeta letting Fawn be buried alive and her infatuation with Dag was - meh.
+ I loved the addition of Arkady and Sumac and their very low key relationship 100% worked for me. I rather loved them and wish we'd gotten more.
+ I liked the whole end fight with the bat malice and that it was Whit and Fawn that ultimately took it out.
I liked it.
+ I like Dag’s growing abilities and the slowly expanding understanding of Ground and how Lakewalkers do and can use it. I like how Dag’s continued quest to teach and create a peaceful coexistence with Farmers is playing out.
+ The building ‘found family’ aspect was great.
+ I was disappointed that it was one woman (Berry) and six men (Whit, Hod, Hawthorne, Bo, Remo, Barr) introduced. Like, the hell? One of Remo/Barr could easily have been a woman plus Hawthorne or Bo. It annoyed me greatly. I’m also slightly annoyed our singular new female character ends up with Whit.
+ I ended up liking Hod and everything with the beguilement, and him and Bo basically adopting each other.
+ Fawn felt like she took a bit of a backseat. I enjoyed her re-stealing the sheep. I also love a line of hers where she tells Dag that she isn’t a fighter and as such must rely on her wits - "The only equal weapon I’ll ever have is my wits. But without knowing things, my wits are like a bow with no arrows. Don’t leave me disarmed." I loved that and the meaning behind them is so applicable in so many canons. What a great argument against that stupid “lie to protect them” trope.
+ I very much disagreed with Dag’s take on the Farmer bandits and the possible diminishing responsibility due to beguilement. First of all, being captured and forced to fight/kill for your life is horrible and not in fact an automatic “oh, you killed so now you’re worthless/evil”. Second, if they were kept under beguilement then there is in fact some debate about how much responsibility they share. Dag has this serious black/white viewpoint and I’m not sure if the writer wants us to see him as wrong or not but I do. It makes me think of his reaction of humans being rescued from a malice and it being all about the practicalities and apparently none at all about the idea of actually saving these people and how that's important too. It’s this blind spot in him which is interesting but only if it’s going somewhere.
+ I also thought of a very easy way for them to work out who was beguiled or not without the Farmers having to rely entirely on the word of some Lakewalker. There are after all three Lakewalkers there. Have all three go through the prisoners individually and point out those beguiled thus giving three independent opinions. Not difficult.
+ When they were going down the flooding river and kept coming across animals clinging to trees on submerged islands I felt so sad and just wanted them to stop the boat and save them.
Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold
This book and I got off to the wrong start pretty much immediately but overall was a good conclusion to the series.
+ The furor over Whit and Berry maybe not being able to get married right then was ridiculous. I know – different time and place, and customs – but I was irritated with the lot of them. Just get married somewhere else! This is not that big a deal! Yeesh.
+ I was also 100% with Barr on Dag’s hypocrisy in using persuasion on the register. If it was wrong of Barr to do it to Berry it’s just as wrong for Dar to do the same to someone else. It’s not something that only becomes wrong when done to someone you care about. Plus there’s an additional angle of hypocrisy considering his stance on hanging the bandits – if he’s all for working with Farmers and treating them as equals and not putting himself/Lakewalkers above them, then what the hell would he call what he just did?
+ I loved the found family end where Fawn and Dag live with Whit and Berry, Hod and Bo and Hawthorne, and Arkady and Sumac in this giant rambling house and it all falling in place for them to get their happy endings. Fawn getting her home and Dag his new way of life, Berry her boat, Whit finding his place, Sumac taking over the care of the horses - all great.
+ The reveal of Barr's daughter Lily and it being made explicate that he did in fact rape the farmer girl left a bit of a sour feeling at the end. He says she wasn't unwilling but her reaction says she was. I was put off him when he first showed up, much like Fawn, but I took what happened as a lot more consensual then it ended up revealed as.
+ This book had more supporting female characters which was nice though again they basically all ended up in relationships. Neeta letting Fawn be buried alive and her infatuation with Dag was - meh.
+ I loved the addition of Arkady and Sumac and their very low key relationship 100% worked for me. I rather loved them and wish we'd gotten more.
+ I liked the whole end fight with the bat malice and that it was Whit and Fawn that ultimately took it out.
